Another lovely day in Launceston! Took the kids to school, lined up another walking buddy, went to work to photocopy some medical documents and sort out my leave arrangements, caught up with 9 wonderful people at work, bought a slow juicer, had a visit from a cousin, drank apple and carrot juice... Now feeling tired, but have to collect boys from school, get new school shoes for David (his black shoes are suddenly too small), and get my eyes tested. I'm so glad my cousin brought a roast chook for lunch, that will make dinner easier to prepare, as I think I'll need a nap when we get back! I've only had one endone and one panadeine forte today as well. The seroma fluid was contributing to the pain.
I saw my surgeon last night, she drained another 300ml from my seroma, and said she'll see me again on Friday. She said that seromas can take 4-8 weeks to resolve, so I have 2 to 6 weeks left. Lucky it doesn't hurt to have it drained, though the suction does feel funny when the fluid level drops. I could feel the fluid being sucked away under my skin with my hand, it felt like a hot water bottle being emptied. Quite surreal.
If chemo starts in 2 weeks, and I will be having 6 treatments, one every 3 weeks, followed by 5 to 6 weeks of radiotherapy, then there are about 26 weeks to go until my treatment is over - as long as I keep healthy and my blood counts don't mean chemo has to be delayed.
Hence the juicer. We're going to start each day with a family drink of apple, carrot, celery, beetroot and ginger juice, with a little broccoli added for me. I'm told this mix is good for keeping winter colds at bay. If we can all stay healthy, and I'll boost my immune system with some other herbal preparations, I should be nearly finished with treatment by my birthday in August. Then I can have the rest of the year to recuperate, or return to work part-time...I'm blessed with very lovely work colleagues and a fantastic career, though my family are even more wonderful than that. Can't wait to see the boys again, in 20 minutes...they're growing up so quickly, but they still give the best hugs.
A blog started in 2013 to inform family and friends about my treatment and progress for early breast cancer. Then I went and got two brain tumours,,both GBMs, completely unrelated to the breast cancer, so the blog continues.
Background and overview
I learnt more about the health system from being an inpatient than I had in 20 years of working as a neuropsychologist. I was unexpectedly diagnosed with two brain tumours on 4/9/13. They turned out to be grade IV Gliomas (glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)). After removal of the right parietal and left occipital tumours, I received the standard treatment under the Stupp protocol (combined Temozolamide (TMZ) and conformal radiotherapy 5 days/week for 6 weeks), but the TMZ had to be ceased after 5 weeks because I had started to develop pancytopenia, where more than one of my blood counts had begun to drop. By Christmas 2013, I had become anaemic and needed a couple of blood transfusions. I ended up in hospital for 3 weeks of the 2014 new year after experiencing my first seizure (suggestive of a right temporal lobe focus) on 31/12/13). They were so worried about my bone marrow, they did a biopsy. Luckily, it was all clear of any nasty disorders. It had just been suppressed by the TMZ My blood counts slowly returned to normal with daily injections of GCSF, which stimulate bone marrow function, for several months. For 17 months I was doing better each day, without any physical impairments or major cognitive problems A third brain tumour was found in the right temporal lobe on 2/1/15, and removed 6/1/15, only to reappear on 17/2/15 after I started to feel vague symptoms at the end of 2014. I had my 4th round of brain surgery on 1/3/15, followed by stereotaxic radio surgery of a residual, inoperable, tumour, on 17/4/15. I've been feeling like my old self again since that highly precise form of radiotherapy, and it feels fabulous.
My way of coping.
I choose to live in hope that everything will work out for the best. I've learnt that even though things are sometimes unpleasant, life and love go on forever. I put my faith in the life force that created and unites us all in love, across all time, space, and dimensions. I refuse to succumb to fear, which is an invention of our imaginations. There are an infinite number of things to fear, both in this world an in our imaginations, and most of them never eventuate. I choose not to dwell on them, and to focus instead on counting my many blessings, current and past, and to have faith and hope that if I look after the present moment, the future will look after itself.
If you're reading, and haven't been in touch, please don't be shy, send me a brief private message using the contact form on the right. It's nice to know who's out there. Blogging can leave me feeling a little isolated at times (I used to have recurrent dreams of being out on a limb over a canyon, or of starting to strip off in a crowded waiting room). Your emails are appreciated, although I can't necessarily answer all of them.
